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Bootes



Boötes is a large northern constellation, dominated by the fourth brightest star in the whole sky, Arcturus. One of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy.

Visible in the months around May, it is also home to a further six stars that are brighter than fourth magnitude, and nearly thirty that are visible to the naked eye from a dark site.

It lies well away from the plane of the Milky Way and so does not contain any bright open clusters.

It is, however, home to the ninth-magnitude globular cluster NGC 5466 as well as many faint galaxies.

Boötes is identified as a herdsman, but the origin of his name is unclear. He is commonly represented as Arcas, the son of Zeus and Callisto, who features in the story of Ursa Major the great bear.

According to the Greeks, Bootes was pictured as a mighty man. In his right hand he holds a spear, and with his left, two hunting dogs. Since he appears to be pursuing the Great Bear (Ursa Major) around the North Pole, Bootes was called “The Bear Driver.” The ‘key’ star, Arctures, can be easily found by following the curved line formed by the handle of the Big Dipper outward to the first bright star. Without doubt, Arctures was one of the first stars to be named. It was one of the few stars mentioned in the Bible, where it is referred to in the book of Job, thus giving it the name “Job’s star.”

The Indian name for this constellation is ಸಹದೇವ (Sahadeva) one of the Pandavas from the epic Mahabharata.

 

Bootes contains:

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Source: Wikipedia, in-the-sky.org
Image Courtesy: Sky&Telescope & IAU, Illustration Images linked from Urania's Mirror on Wikmedia Commons by Sidney Hall

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